I bought a strap and used it early on, but now I play with no strap because it's just easier to grab and play. I spent about a week practicing standing up and now it's just second nature to play without a strap.

Did you ever get around to putting the fake screw heads on the fabric, as I suggested oh-so long ago?

Just wondered....

-Kurt

Originally Posted by OldePhart

I've used spray trim adhesive (sort of an aerosol rubber cement) to glue strips of non-slip shelf lining to the back of most of my ukes (yes, even the KoAloha). The ones I've done that to never slip. I haven't done it to my sopranos because I don't seem to need it.

I'm probably going to put strap buttons on my tenors though since they already have pickups and endpin jacks.

I definitely need a strap for the baritone but haven't put buttons on yet.

If you think your dog can't count, try putting three cookies in your pocket and only giving him two...
Being successful has nothing to do with how much money you make-it has everything to do with how happy you are at it..
Ignore your rights and they'll go away.
Born O.K. the first time.

I found that I get much more volume from my ukes when I am sitting, because I am not holding the uke against my body. That extra volume (and nicer tone) might be handy when performing. How about performing on a tall stool (sometimes Jake does this for a few songs during a concert). I would not be able to successfully play anything remotely complicated without some kind of strap.

Whistle vs. Electronic Tuner

"for people just learning to play any instrument, do not buy an electronic tuner, get a whistle tuner and train your ear to be able to tune. ridiculous to learn how to play an instrument and never learning to tune first. electronic tuners are for stage playing when you can't hear your instrument﻿ properly, not at home trying to learn something"

As a long-time professional tuner, this sounds insane to me. If you're learning to play the ukulele, you're learning to play the ukulele. The tuning technique or device you use should be the one that wastes the least time getting you there.

If you're learning to tune (an entirely different endeavor), I agree you need to put away the electronic tuner. It's precisely as useless as the whistle. To accurately tune an instrument with a tempered scale, like an ukulele, a guitar, or piano, one string should be tuned to A440 (or other desired standard) and the rest of the strings must be tuned to that string and to each other. So, even if you can "train your ear" to tune with the whistle rather than the electronic device, you're still not learning to tune.

Because of my background in the purely technical/mathematical science of tuning, I can tune my instruments more accurately without either. But, of the two I much prefer the electronic tuner over the whistle. It's not better, just easier for me.

If you have one that works for you, why buy the other? The best tuner is the one that gets you playing. In my opinion, it's best to save "training your ear" for the music you'll be making.

Last edited by stevepetergal; 07-20-2012 at 05:44 AM.

If everybody wanted peace instead of another TV, then there would be peace.-John Lennon-

"for people just learning to play any instrument, do not buy an electronic tuner, get a whistle tuner and train your ear to be able to tune. ridiculous to learn how to play an instrument and never learning to tune first. electronic tuners are for stage playing when you can't hear your instrument﻿ properly, not at home trying to learn something"

As a long-time professional tuner, this sounds insane to me. If you're learning to play the ukulele, you're learning to play the ukulele. The tuning technique or device you use should be the one that wastes the least time getting you there.

If you're learning to tune (an entirely different endeavor), I agree you need to put away the electronic tuner. It's precisely as useless as the whistle. To accurately tune an instrument with a tempered scale, like an ukulele, a guitar, or piano, one string should be tuned to A440 (or other desired standard) and the rest of the strings must be tuned to that string and to each other. So, even if you can "train your ear" to tune with the whistle rather than the electronic device, you're still not learning to tune.

Because of my background in the purely technical/mathematical science of tuning, I can tune my instruments more accurately without either. But, of the two I much prefer the electronic tuner over the whistle. It's not better, just easier for me.

If you have one that works for you, why buy the other? The best tuner is the one that gets you playing. In my opinion, it's best to save "training your ear" for the music you'll be making.

I have never cared for the pitch pipes. I like my Snark electronic tuners. But I also plan on just getting a bunch of A440 tuning forks, one for each instrument. Back when I first learned to play guitar, that's how I did it. Tune the "A", and everything else relative to it.